Innersole and method of making the same



July 1947- F. L. AYERS 2,424,428

INNERSOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE ISAME 7 Filed March 7, 1944 jaw/2Z7fiadl an F. a H

. sent suiiicient stiffness so Patented July '22, 1947 Fred L. Ayers,walthm, Mala,

twenty-two one-hundredth:

lfi illloi' of to Charles G.

Keferstein, New York, HJY. Application March 7, 1944, Serial No. 525,3376 Claims. (61. 6-22) This invention relates to the manufacture ofinnersoles of a type-particularly suitable for use in the manufacture ofshoes of the welt type.

It has for an object to produce an innersole from thin stock, providedwith a non-floating inseam-receiving rib so formed as to add littlestifl'ness to the innersole.

It has for another object to produce an innersole which presents the'full thickness of the innersole stock at .its margin. This'latter is ofparticular importance where a very thin innersole stock is employed inorder that its edge may preas not to be curled up by the upper in theshoe.

In order to provide a non-floating stitch-re-- ceiving rib, it isnecessary to utilize a portion, at least, of the sole blank in formingthe rib, and in order to present the full thickness of the blank at itsmargin, the blank cannot be channeled inwardly from its margin to formany portion of the rib. In order to provide a portion of the blank inthe stitch-receiving rib, the blank is therefore channeled outwardlytoward the margin on one face, in accordance with this invention, andthe material of the lip formed by the channeling operation is replacedinthe blank by a reinforcing member cemented to the face of the channelwhich substantially fllls the gutter formed by the channeling operation.This reinforcing member may also have a part forming with the lip afurther portion of the inseam,

fastener receiving rib; The lip being formed by outwardly channeling theblanktends to return toward its position in the blank so that the ribtends to lie near to the plane of the blank rather than to stand outsubstantially perpendicular thereto, so that flexing of the innersolebends the lip substantially in its thickness direction where it is muchmore flexible than across its width. Flexing widthwise of the lip wouldbe produced with the lip projecting from the face of the blank at a morenearly rectangular position.

In order that the lip may be raised sufllciently to permit the placingof the reinforcing strip, its edge portion may be-slashed, butpreferably this slashing is not carried to the root of the lip. Thisincreases the tendency of the rib to lie closely to the blank so as tobe more flexible as the innersole is flexed.

In order, also, that thin stock may be used, the channeling must be veryshallow so as not to unduly weaken the blank and its upper face may beprovided with a reinforcing layer of fabric or other suitable materialthrough which the channeling may be made.

inventiomreference may be had tot eaccompanying drawings in which 1;, E

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the channeled blank.

Figure 2 is a detail sectionalview on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a folded reinforcing strip or tape.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2, but showing the strip of Figure3 applied to the blank of Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 5 is a view somewhat similar to Figure 2, but showing amodification.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4, but illustrating themodification of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is' a view similar to Figure 5, but showing a modification.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6, but showing the modification ofFigure 7.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a method ofprogressively folding and applying the strip of Figures 3 to theinnersole blank"of Figure 1.

Referring first to Figure 1, a thin sole-shaped blank I is channeledoutwardly from one face 2 about its margin to form a shallow gutter Ibeneath a thin lip l; The inner edge portion only of this lip is thenslashed as at I to render this portion of the lip sufliciently flexibleto be lifted, as by a rotary plow I of Figure 9, so as to insert beneaththe lip a reinforcing strip III which may be of fabric or any othersuitable material of sumcient strength and of sufficient thickness tosubstantially fill the gutter formed by the channeling operation and toextend inwardly slightly beyond the inner edge of the gutter as shown atThis reinforcing strip does not extend across the innersole blank as itis undesirable to build up the thickness of the blank at is mid portion.This strip is preferablyfolded upon itself when applied so that awidthwise portion l2 lies beneath the lip 4 and preferably it ispre-coated with cement so that when applied, it is cemented firmly toboth the top face of the blank within and slightly inwardly of thegutter and against the under face of the lip. The lip 4, with itsreinforcing layer if, then forms the inseam receiving rib of theinnersole. Since the reinforcing layer substantially fills the gutterformed by the channeling operation and the outer edge portion of theblank being uncut presents its full thickness, the faces of theinnersole on opposite sides of the stitch-receiving rib are atsubstantially the same level so that the inseam stitches can be placedproperly with the usual curved needle. The lip 4 being integral with theinnersole blank, provides the desired non-floating rib construction, andbecause of the, direction of channeling, this rib tends strongly toincline sharply inwardly so that any flexure imparted to the innersoleis exerted substantially in the direction of thickness of the rib ratherthan widthwise so that it imparts the minimum additional stiffness tothe innersole. With this construction an innersole as thin as two andone-half irons can be utilized, an iron being one forty-eighth of aninch.

An even thinner blank may be used, however, say, one and one-half irons,by the use of a reinforcing layer shown as a strip i5 cemented to oneface of the thin blank la as shown in Figure 5, the outer channelingbeing then through the strip ii and into the blank la. The lip thusformed is then lifted, as shown in Figure 6, sufficiently to apply thereinforcing strip Ill beneath it, filling the gutter formed by thechanneling operation, the inner edge of the strip l0 overlying the innermarginal portion I! of the strip Ii, as shown in Figure 6. The stitchingrib in this case comprises the lip formed partly by the reinforcinglayer It and partly by the portion 20 of the lip cut from the blank bythe channeling operation. The completed innersole in this constructionpresents not only the thickness of the edge of the blank, but also thethickness of the layer II, although if it is desired that this layer I!should not show in the finished innersole, a somewhat narrowerreinforcing strip may be employed as shown in Figure 7 at 25, or, ifdesired, the reinforcing strip may be placed somewhat inwardly from themargin of the blank. The channeling is then performed as previouslydescribed, cutting through the strip 25 and into the blank la, the lipthus formed being raised and the folded reinforcing strip Ill placed inposition beneath the lip, as previously described, to form the structureshown in Figure 8.

After the reinforcing strip I0 is placed in position, the lip may bepressed down as by the feeding fingers of the machine, one of which isshown at 30 in Figure 9, to form the completed innersole. As shown thestrip i0 may be folded on its way to the blank when it is being applied,this being shown in Figure 9 as accomplished by a folder 32 of wellknown construction through which the tape passes on its way to the plow6 by which it is applied to the blank.

From the foregoing description of certain embodiments of this invention,it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various otherchanges and modifications might be made without departing from thespirit or' scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. An innersole comprising a blank, a rein-:- forcing strip secured toone face of said blank around at least its forepart, said reinforcingstrip and blank being outwardly channeled to form an inwardly inclinedlip, and a second reinforcing strip cemented to said blank beneath saidlip and substantially filling the space previously occupied by said lip,the margin of said innersole present- 4 ing the full thickness of saidblank and said firstmentioned strip.

2. An innersole comprising a blank, a reinforcing strip secured to oneface of said blank around at least its forepart, said reinforcing stripI and blank being outwardly channeled to form an inwardly inclinedlip,'and a second reinforcin strip cemented to said blank beneath saidlip and substantially filling the space previously occupied by said lip,the margin of said innersole presenting the full thickness of said blankand said firstmentioned strip, said second reinforcing strip having awidth-wise portion underlying and cemented to said lip and with said lipforming an inseam securing rib inclinedsharply inwardly.

3. The method of making an innersole, which comprises cementing asurfacing strip to one face of a sole-shaped blank around at least theforepart margin of said blank, outwardly channeling through thereinforcing strip and into said blank to form a lip, and insertingbeneath said lip and securing to the blank and strip a secondreinforcing strip substantially filling the gutter formed by thechanneling operation and cementing a widthwise portion of said secondstrip to the under face of said lip.

4. An innersole comprising a blank, a reinforcing layer secured to oneface of said blank at least over its forepart, said reinforcing layerand blank being outwardly channeled to form an inwardly inclined lip,and a reinforcing strip cemented to said blank beneath said lip andsubstantially filling the space previously occupied by said lip.

5. An innersole comprising a blank, 2. reinforcing layer secured to oneface of said blank at least over its forepart, said reinforcing layerand blank being outwardly channeled to form an inwardly inclined lip,and a reinforcing strip cemented to said blank beneath said lip andsubstantially filling the space previously occupied by said lip, saidreinforcing strip having a widthwise portion underlying and cemented tosaid lip and with said lip forming an inseam securing rib inclinedsharply inwardly.

6. The methodof making an innersole which comprises cementing areinforcing layer to one face of a sole shaped blank at least at theforepart of the blank, outwardly channeling through the reinforcinglayer and into the blank to form .a lip, and inserting beneath said lipand securing to the blank and layer a reinforcing strip substantiallyfilling the gutter formed by the channeling opration.

FRED L. AYERS.

' REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,026,225 Rollins May 14, 19122,268,561 Baker Jan. 6, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 309,523Great Britain Apr. 12, 1929

